Recent developments in hybrid vehicles and defense applications have increased the demand for cooling systems for electrical control equipment and components.
The cooling of electrical components lowers their temperature of operation and increases their electrical efficiency and power output per unit size. Electrical resistance, for example, increases with heating and causes the equipment to be less efficient. The size and weight of electrical components can be reduced for a given power rating, provided that operating temperatures are kept within a certain range of ambient temperature by the use of cooling systems.
It is typical to mount electrical controls in enclosures. Cooling of the electrical equipment is also beneficial in that removes heat from such enclosures and in some cases allows for sealed enclosures.
One category of electrical components includes inductors which are electromagnetic devices having an electromagnetic core, often made of ferromagnetic metal, and coils with many turns of electrical wire. These include transformers, choke coil assemblies and many other devices using such electromagnetic components. Other components, such as capacitors, can also be cooled.
In the prior art, many solutions to cooling such devices have included air cooling with radiating fins attached to the components. Traditional, air-cooled inductors are volumetrically inefficient. Large surface areas are required to reject the heat. The large size of these components has significant weight. Sealed boxes containing inductors of considerable size cannot be adequately air-cooled.
In liquid cooled devices, several approaches have been used. Sometimes tubes have been wrapped around the cores with the wiring for the coils. In some cases, the coils have been immersed in liquids within their enclosures.
When conventional plumbing is added to a choke coil assembly, the plumbing must be assembled after winding the choke coils, pressure tested and then returned to the choke coil manufacturing area to be impregnated with resin.
It is an object of the invention to provide a cooling system that can be separately manufactured, tested and then easily assembled to the choke coil or other electrical component.